Thank you to all who joined our webinar on 22nd April. If you couldn't join, you can watch the recording below and slides are attached.
You can also listen to longer presentations from all of our speakers:
Pearl Gola: uMngeni Ecological Infrastructure Partnership
William Ojwang: PES in Lake Naivasha
Beria Namanya: Sustainable Finance in the Rwenzoris
There were many fantastic questions which we didn't have a chance to answer. These are posted below, and we'll ask our speakers Pearl, William and Beria to respond to you here. If you think of any extra questions, please add below!
African Forum on Green Economy_Water_22 April_PDFpdf
Question from Martin Assiimwe:
Pearl, thanks for the good presentation. How do you ensure the Mondi plantations of Eucalypts do not affect the quality and quantity of water in the Umgeni catchment?
HI Martin.
Mondi has a relatively small footpring on the uMngeni catchment. However, they have been partners in the UEIP since its inception. The forestry sector is generally guided by the Forest Stewardship Council certification, which is an industry stuandard that ensures that comercial forests are managed in an environmentally sustainable, socially beneficial and economic viable manner. Mondi have taken this a step further bypartnersing with WWF in exploring Water Stewardship mechanisms on the uMngeni and uMhlathuzi catchments of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. They are a very pro-active industry in terms of minimising effects on water quality and quantity and they have also adopted the approach of investing in catchment management beyond their fence line (particularly in the uMhlatuzi catchment).
Question from Najma Mohamed:
William, thanks for the very interesting share. The Kenyan experience of strong policy with poor enforcement capability is (sadly) familiar. Within the spirit of multi-stakeholder water governance, are there opportunities to involve citizens - through citizen science efforts, to support water policy monitoring and enforcement?
Certainly, we are in the process of establishing Citizen led Lake/River Health Assessment in Naivasha. In addition, the PES is coordinated by the Naivasha Water Users Association and members form part of PES sellers, and are involved in monitoring of water quality using phone enabled Open Data Kits-citizen science approach
Question from Jo Geere:
To all, what have you found are the most effective ways to enable the poorer stakeholders living in your project areas to participate? Have you been able to identify people, households or communities at risk of exclusion and enable their involvement in your projects?
Question from Martin Asiimwe:
William thanks for the good presentation, how did you ensure that the whole landscape adopts soil and water conservation structures to reduce turbidity?
Question from Farai Chireshe:
Pearl, Thanks for the presentation. What is the role of the big industrial players like SAPPI in the UEIP. Are they funding any projects done in the ecological infrastructure or are thye commiting to better manage their water resources?
Hello Farai
The commercial forestry industry is one of the significan economic drivers of the catchment. SAPPI has quite a footpring on the uMngeni catchment and they have been a partner in the UEIP since inception, given that water security is of great interest to them. They are mostly motivated by the market driven Forest Stewardship Council certification to invest in water resource management in the catchment, and they allocate financial and human resource to ecological infrastructure activities such as alien plant clearing and wetland rehabilitation. However, most of their work is within their properties, and we would like to see them investing beyond their fence line because some of their water risk maybe upstream of their properties and the effects from their activities may be felt mostly by downstream users.
Question from Girum Bahri Tegegn:
William, interesting presentation, thanks. My question: What does sustainable production and consumption mean in the context of PES? Does it take into account the consumption behaviour ofbuyers overseas as well (e.g. of cut flowers)?
Question from Christophe Schmandt:
Thanks Pearl and William, what role does wastewater treatment play? in particular resource recovery from sewage. Considering the Green Economy focus, is it foreseen to recover nutrients for use in agriculture (phosphorus, nitrogen) and irrigation grade water?
Hi Christophe. Wastewater treatment plays a huge role in water quality in the uMngeni catchment. The main challenge is that most of our waste water treatment facilities are aging and therefore do not function optimally, which puts enormous pressure on the ecological infrastructure of the system. We have a huge problem with leaking sewers which sometimes result in the raw sewage making its way directly into our water resources, especially in times of heavy rain and flooding. This is not only a concern but highlights the supplementary approach of built and ecological infrastructure, because it makes visible those linkages and the fact that we cannot address one and ignore the other. We have therefore not fully explored the resource recovery from sewage for use in agriculture. That would be a very useful concept to explore particularly for our newly revamped water treatment plants.
Question from Satishkumar Belliethathan:
Dear Pearl,Excellent presentation and work done. Could you please throw more light on the financial investments as well as the involvement of private sector (in what capacity are they involved??)
Question from Guido Schmidt:
William, many thanks for the presentation. could you add information how far the PES is already financially sustainable or (for how long) seed funds (as the mentioned EU project or others) will be necessary and why?
Question from Charles Akol:
In the case of Naivasha, could you please outline the exact types and volumes of payments made to the upstream farmers/coomunities? What mechanisms are there to esure adherance to the agreementby the upstream communities?
Question from Tom Williams:
Beria, in what form is the private sector making financial contributions (direct grants, investment in their owninfrastructure, etc)?
Question from Girum Bahri Tegegn:
Beria, thanks for the presentation! My question: How will the "business case" for PES of a brewery compare with that of a cement factory? Will they have comparable riskes and by extension incentives to participate in PES?
Question from Stuart Worsley:
Are the incentives being offered here enough to keep small holders engaged? Is there evidence on this?
Question from Martin Asiimwe:
Thanks Beria for the good presentation. What strategies do you have in place to cover the landscape in order to have good impact on turbidity from the run off in rain seasons
Question from Mark Damen:
Thank you for the great presentations. What are the main challenges you encounter throughout the projects?
Question from Zarah Pattison:
Amazing presentations, thank you! Are any of these projects addressing the role of invasive alien species in reducing water quality and quantity, and ecosystem services - which can also have indirect impacts on farmers?
Hi Zarah, thanks for the question. The panellists can answer this for their own cases, but you might also be interested to watch our video from Louise Stafford, TNC about the Greater Cape Town Water Fund and the significant impact of alien species in that region.
Question from Najma Mohamed:
Has the collaborative water governance approaches and innovative green solutions presented in the cases reached the thresholds needed to improve water quality and quantity, and influenced the mainstreaming of natural capital in decision-making(in other water bodies for instance)?
Question from Mark Damen:
Is the next generations, the youth, taken into account as stakeholders as well?
Question from Barano Sulistyawan:
i would like to know more. What is the main motivation from private sector to invest in PES in the three project coutries. How do you measure the watershed services performance?
Question from Charles Akol:
Naivasha PES: I see the water supply and quality management addressed through catchment areas PES. How about the abstraction side, especailly given that the recovery from COVID-19 might require/mean expansion of flower production and thus increased water being drawn from Lake Naivasha?